Carolyn Hax: Controlling behavior is an early sign of domestic violence

6:19 PM,
Apr. 14, 2014

Written by

Carolyn Hax

Dear Carolyn: Thank you for taking my question last week (about disagreements with my boyfriend). I was surprised when you included the domestic violence link (Domestic violence: The Facts) because he had never been violent.

He still hasn't been, but that weekend he yelled at me pretty bad, and systematically insulted my entire character. When we talked normally, he said he was purposely trying to hurt my feelings.

He admitted he should have communicated better but never apologized for yelling, though I apologized multiple times for setting him off. I broke up with him. - Different ...